2 Koreas discuss more economic cooperation

Food, energy crises are at top of agenda

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The San Diego Union - Tribune; San Diego, Calif.;
Dec 29, 2000

Abstract: In the opening session, North Korea proposed
that the first topic should be its earlier request
for 500,000 kilowatts of electricity from South Korea,
South Korean pool reports said. South Korean officials
in Seoul said the meeting is unlikely to reach agreement
on the request. Other items on the agenda in Pyongyang
include reconnecting a cross-border railway, building
an industrial complex in the North close to the border
with South Korea and jointly erecting a dam on a river
shared by the Koreas to prevent flooding, pool reports
said. Meanwhile, North Korea failed to respond to
a South Korean proposal to hold a military dialogue
yesterday at the border village of Panmunjom.

Full Text: SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea and
electricity-starved North Korea opened three days
of talks in the North's capital yesterday on ways
of boosting economic cooperation.

The talks, the first high-level government dialogue
between the sides to focus solely on economic matters,
came as South Korean officials said yesterday that
307 North Koreans defected to the South this year,
more than double the 148 who fled the hunger-stricken
Communist state last year.

The isolated Stalinist North's food shortages are
so severe that its own government has admitted that
at least 220,000 people have died of hunger since
1995.

South Korean Vice Finance and Economy Minister Lee
Jung-jae and his aides arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday
for the talks. The North Korean delegation was led
by Pak Chang Ryon, vice chairman of the national planning
committee.

In the opening session, North Korea proposed that
the first topic should be its earlier request for
500,000 kilowatts of electricity from South Korea,
South Korean pool reports said. South Korean officials
in Seoul said the meeting is unlikely to reach agreement
on the request.

North Korea's energy shortage is believed to be severe.
Power failures are common even in Pyongyang, and travelers
have reported seeing public buildings and homes without
heating and electricity in winter.

In 1994, a U.S.-led consortium agreed to build nuclear
reactors in North Korea in exchange for the North's
freezing its suspect nuclear weapons program. Completion
of the first light-water reactor had been scheduled
for 2003, but delays have pushed back the date by
several years.

Other items on the agenda in Pyongyang include reconnecting
a cross-border railway, building an industrial complex
in the North close to the border with South Korea
and jointly erecting a dam on a river shared by the
Koreas to prevent flooding, pool reports said.

Meanwhile, North Korea failed to respond to a South
Korean proposal to hold a military dialogue yesterday
at the border village of Panmunjom.

After a third round of working-level military talks
last week, Seoul had proposed holding another round
to discuss cooperation for building the railway and
a four-lane highway across the sides' heavily fortified
border. The North gave no explanation for its failure
to respond.